Church-wide Discernment

***On April 4th, 2019, the discernment process officially concluded and a letter was sent from the overseers to the memberhsip informing them of what was discerned and a proposal of what's to come. Below is the letter that was sent to to members and below that is a short video message from two of our overseers who were a part of the discernment team.

As was announced on Sunday, November 4th, 2018, Pastor Josh will be stepping down in his role as lead pastor of Highrock Brookline to be effective no later than May 31st, 2019. We honor and support Pastor Josh's decision and the way God is leading him and his family. For more information regarding Pastor Josh's decision, we encourage you to read his letter informing the members.

With regards to the transition that our church will now be undergoing, before making any sort of plan for said transition, the overseers felt it necessary to enter a season of prayer and discernment to seek God's will in all of this first and foremost. Pastor Josh's news comes in the midst of a continued prayer for revival in which we've begun to explore and embrace what it means to be a priesthood of all believers as well as begin a partnership with Mars Hill Fellowship Church. We seek to be in line with what God is doing in our midst and to submit fully to His will.

During this season of a lot of uncertainty, the overseers are committed to making sure clear and transparent communication is made. To that end, this page will be updated with any pertinent information regarding the discernment process. You may also sign up to recieve a weekly email regarding the process.

An Invitation

The church is the body of Christ, one body made up of many individuals (1 Corinthians 12:12-31). If we truly want to discern God's will for our church, we need to be unified and working together, communally listening to hear what He has to say. To that end, anyone and everyone, but especially those who call Highrock home, are invited to seek God alongside of us. There are several ways in which you can do so:

Discernment Journal
This is a daily devotional and practice to help prepare our Spirits to be more receptive to hearing God's voice and to journal any thoughts, impressions, etc. along the way.

At any point in the process if you feel that you've heard from God or if you simply have questions, or thoughts that you'd like to share with the discernment team, feel free to email discernment@highrockbrookline.org. There will also be open "office hours" at 39 Harvard St. after Thursday morning prayer from 8:30am-9:30am for you to come and share or have conversation in person.

Message from the Prayer Team

Discernment Timeline

November 4th | Pastor Josh's announcementNovember 4th + 11th | Open forum after service to ask questions and process transition December 12th | Overseers finalize plan for discernment proces (ie. timeline, the question to discern, discernment team)December 16th | Discernment process Q&AJanuary 12, 2019 | Discernment team begins process with day retreat at Campion Center.January 14, 2019 | Day one of Discernment JournalFebruary 9, 2019 | Discernment team spends day at Campion Center for second round of prayer/discussion/discernmentMarch 9, 2019 | Discernment team spends day at Campion Center for third round of prayer/discussion/discernmentMarch 30, 2019 | Discernment team spends a day at Campion Center for last round of prayer/discussion/discernmentApril 4, 2019 | Discernment process offically concludesApril 5, 2019 | Letter sent to members with "results" of discernmentApril 7 2019 | Discernment results are discussed at members' meetingMay 26, 2019 | Pastor Josh's last Sunday as lead pastor

F.A.Q.

Why aren't we forming a pastoral search committee for a new lead pastor?
Before any plans are made regarding any kind of transition we are committing to pray, seek and discern God's will.

What exactly are we trying to discern?
We are trying to discern who we are as a church. Pastor Josh is the founding pastor of our church and thus much of the churches values and culture have been set or strongly influenced by him. One of the reasons for him stepping down is his feeling of being in the way of God leading and shaping the identity of the church due to his charismatic personality. And so in his absence we want to discern answers to questions like, "What kind of leadership should we have going forward?" and "What should our partnership with Mars Hill Fellowship look like in the future?" These are questions that are central to our call and identity as a church and so we want to take time to pray, fast and discern God's will together.

What is Pastor Josh going to do?
Please refer to Pastor Josh's letter to the members above. If you have any other questions or anything you'd like to communicate to Pastor Josh feel free to contact him directly at josh@highrockbrookline.org.